The weather is good, so we head for a place called Trachsellauenen. The bus takes us to Stechelberg at the end of the valley, and from there it’s about an hour’s climb. If you want to climb the Jungfrau, this is one of the places where you can start. There are a few memorials at the start of the climb to those who weren’t fortunate enough to make it back.

Trachsellauenen is surrounded by a series of peaks, most of which have glaciers on the northern slope. The net result of this in summer is that there is an awful lot of water here.


We stopped for coffee at a tiny hotel by the river.

There are lots of makeshift bridges along the paths. Some are more precarious than others.

And here’s the view that we’ve come to see. The Breithorn, with its glacier, and below it the Schmadribach waterfall.

After a few hours of fairly tough hiking we walked back down to Stechelberg where the bus was waiting to take us back to Lauterbrunnen.